Its time of 6:45.09 around the Nurburgring makes it unequivocally the quickest production car to ever do it. The EP9 beat the time set by the Lamborghini Huracan Performante just earlier this year by 7 seconds. And if you count the Radical SR8 LM as a "production car," the EP9 undercut that as well by about 3 seconds.

​Much less reported is the EP9's autonomous lap record around Circuit of the Americas, which demonstrates NIO's commitment to electric power + performance, and autonomy.

The accomplishments of the all-electric NIO EP9 are headline-worthy now, but it's the positive implication for the future of performance that really has our attention.

It wasn't long ago that hybrid technology was predicted to be the downfall of the performance car. The performance hybrid technology of the P1, 918 Spyder, and LaFerrari proved that hypothesis false. Very false.

The NIO EP9 reveals the path forward for performance road + track cars entirely beyond the fossil fuel era, and when autonomy becomes the market preference and norm, if not compulsory.

We love our V8's, but if the future involves charting a course and getting some work done en route to the track, then taking the reins and giving your neck all it can handle before recovering on an autonomous drive home… count us in.